Personalized in-flight magazines at Heathrow's Terminal 1

Travel & Tourism

Earlier this year we wrote about idiomag, the personalized digital magazine about music, and soon travellers at London’s Heathrow Airport will be able to create something similar–but in hardcover format–for use in-flight.
Starting early next month, global banking giant HSBC is offering passengers at Heathrow’s Terminal 1 a chance to select magazine articles on topics they’re interested in and have them bound into a hardback form they can take on their flight, according to Marketing Week. Through a kiosk located beyond security at Terminal 1, travellers will be greeted with an HSBC-branded hardback magazine cover. They’ll then browse the diverse selection of loose-leaf articles arranged on backlit shelving, UTalkMarketing.com reported. Available articles will be sourced from coverage around the globe focusing on four general topic areas: home and abroad, commerce and politics, health and sport, and media and culture. Consumers will also be able to choose from among five writers, including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, tennis legend Björn Borg and Harrod’s trend forecaster on the future of shopping. Once they’ve made their selections, travelers will simply take their articles to HSBC’s binding bar to be neatly bound inside the hard cover. The two-week pilot effort, which is part of a campaign to promote the HSBC Premier Card, was developed by Cunning with JC Decaux Airport, Kinetic’s Aviator division and MindShare.
By providing a bespoke, branded experience to Heathrow travellers from around the globe, the custom magazine project will underscore the upscale targeting of HSBC’s Premier Card, as well as highlighting the company’s global presence. If extended beyond the pilot phase, such an initiative could also be offered as a perk to Premier customers. Either way, it’s just one more piece of evidence that the world is becoming thoroughly personalized–let consumers have it their way, or they’ll have it somewhere else! 😉 (Related: Personalized travel books blend search and curation.)
Update: Photos of the Heathrow kiosk can be viewed here.
Spotted by: Marketing Week via Peter Stevens